Art or process of transferring natural-wood-grain designs of a wood panel to anotherarticle



Dec. 31, 1929. w. MAVOR ET AL 1,741,471

ART 0R PROCESS OF TRANSFERRING NATURAL WOOD GRAIN DESIGNS OF A WOOD PANEL TO ANOTHER ARTICLE Filed March 12. 1928 INVENTORS W 711W,

qyMMf Patented 31, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE WILFRID MAVOR AND CLAYTON SHELBY HOUPT, OF OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA;

SAID MAVOR ASSIGNOR 'IO SAID HOUPT v ART OB PROCESS OF TRANSFERBING NATURAL-WOOD-GRAIN DESIGNS OF A' WOOD PANEL TO ANOTHER ARTICLE Application filed March 12, 1928. Seriat No. 261.121.

The invention relates to a process for transferring natural wood grain designs from the surface of a wood panel to that of another article.

The objects of the invention are to faithfully reproduce'natural wood grain designs upon the surfaces of articles which may be of wood, paper, cast iron plate, sheet iron plate,

etc., and used by themselves, or made into furniture, etc.; and to provide such a process, which is not only very reliable but economical in the matter of production of articles made thereby as well as in the matter of the equipment used therewith.

The drawings-in which like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the various figures-are intended to supplement the description of this invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view, illustrating a typical wood panel whose grain designs are intended to be transferred to the surface of an article;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary cross-section,

taken, say on line 2-2 in Figure '1, intended to illustrate how the rectangular cross-section of the panel is affected by the application of water: and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross-section, also on line 2-2 Figure 1, intended to illustrate how the same cross-section appears when the panel is ready to be used in the carrying out of the process.

In the carrying out of the process, the hard wood panel or die 10 isplaned and finished to provide a plane and smooth surface 11.

The panel may be made of ash, oak, walnut, mahogany, and perhaps others, according to their adaptability and the natural grain designs which it is desired to transfer. If desired, two plane surfaces 11 and 11A may be made so as to have two different patterns or grain desi us for every panel or die, and this is prefera ly effected by using two superposed slabs 10A and 10B.

Vater or other suitable fluid is then ap plied, preferably with a brush, upon the surface a-nd allowed to dr partly because of partly because the wood in thepanel absorbs a little water, the coarse and relatively soft brownish fibers which constitute the courses or design portions 13 of the panel absorbing a great deal more water than the rest-of the panel. Five 'or six such consecutive applications of water have been found to give the results sought, namely to cause the fibers or grains within the design portions 13 to soften, expand and rise above the surface 11 of the panel, (as

best illustrated in Figure 2). Following each of these applications ofwater, as 'ust described, the surface 11 of the panel is rushed with a hard fiber brush, preferably in the sense of the grain or patterns, the effect of which is to cut or-wearthe'- fibers 13 down to substantially the level of the surface 11,

The panel is then allowed to dry, With the result that the fibers in the wood shrink, those in the design portions 13 shrinkingrelatively the more andleaving the tips of the fibers some distance below the surface 11, forming in effect grooves or depressions 12, (as best shown in Figure 3). It is found that there are such depressions'at all places where the design portions identify themselves from the entire surface 11. r

A coat of some oily or fatty substance, such as a mixture of boiled linseed oil and turpentine, in or about the proportions of one to one, is next applied over the surface 11 so as to render same impervious to the oil-glaze mixture or other particular graining substance which isto be used for printing the design upon the article to be grained. The

panel is not used for about 24 hours; so as to allow the oily substance to thoroughly dry.

It is found that this coat tends to harden the wood surface, thus insuring a smooth, better from the surface 11 but leave ink only in the depressions 12.

To effect the transfer of the ink and more particularly the design on the panel onto the article to be grained, a soft roller of, say, composition, is rolled over the panel surface 11 so as to take the imprint of the design as now outlined or delimited by the depressions or grooves 12, and then in turn rolled over the surface of the article to be grained. The roller is cleaned after each article has been grained, also a fresh quantity of ink is applied to the panel and spread across the surface and forced into the depressions as already described.

, When porcelain enamelled surfaces are being grained, these are heated in a suitable oven so as to fuse the over-glaze into the enamel, all according to well known practice.

If this process, on the other hand, is used to grain slabs of wood, or sheets of paper, when a suitable printing ink would be used, then she freshly grained surfaces are allowed to If it is found that the grain designs reproduced or transferred are becoming indistinct,

the surface 11 of the wood panel can again be treated or prepared in accordance with the steps described heretofore, namely, the application of water or other suitable fluid, brushing, drying, and the application of the oily or fatty substance.

What we claim as'our invention is:

1. The herein described method of maln'ng a transfer block for wood grain designs consisting in applying moisture to the exposed grained surface of the wood block and thereby swell the wide grain in very distinct con-.

figuration in respect to the close grain, then abrading the block surface until the wide grain is worn down even to the close grain, then shrinking the wood and thereby forming the depressions outlining the design, then surface finishing and inking and finally transferring to a printing roller.

2. The herein described method of making a transfer block for wood grain designs consistmg in applying moisture to the exposed grained surface of the wood block a plurality of times and thereby swell the wide grain in .very distinct configuration in respect to the close grain, then abrading the block surface after each application of the moisture until the wide grain is worn down even to the close grain. then shrinking the wood and thereby forming depressions outlining the design, then applying a coat of oily substance on to the block surface as afinishing and inking sisting in applying moisture to the exposed grained surface of the wood block and thereby swelling the wide grain in very distinct configuration in respect to the close grain, then abrading the block surface until the wide grain is worn down even to the close grain,

allowing the block to dry and thereby shrinking the wood and forming the depressions outlining the design, then coating the block 

